What Is Lent?

LENT

 Lent is the 40 day season of preparation for Easter. It has been called “the church’s springtime.” If you grew up Baptist you probably didn’t hear much about Lent except maybe in reference to other folks giving up something for Lent, or eating only fish on Fridays during Lent.

Hominy, like many other CBF churches, has found value in following the liturgical church year in worship. This gives us the opportunity to focus on Scripture in a way that retells the Story of Jesus every year. We begin with Advent in December, knowing that by Easter we will have walked with Jesus to the cross.

Jesus was pretty specific that what comes out of our mouths is way more important than what goes in. So Lent is really about examining our hearts, confessing our sins and looking for ways we need to change our lives to align ourselves more closely with God. It is spring cleaning for our souls. Except that God does the cleaning, we just open ourselves to the need to have it done.

There are several familiar scriptures that speak to this need in our lives.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Ephesians 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians  3:8 But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

The Hebrew word for repent is shuv- it means to turn  The idea then behind repentance is change in direction. Turning away from whatever tempts or distracts us from God and turning towards our Salvation through Christ.

The scriptures point to a change of heart, a change of will, an inner course correction that expresses itself in an outward way.

We can’t just go through the motions of repentance and recommitment without a change within.

Just doing religious things for the sake of doing them results in the hollow posturing that Jesus and the prophets taught against.

One translation of Joel 2:12 reads “Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn.”

We need to see with our hearts that we have veered off course.

This process is not about checking off a list of do’s and don’ts. It’s not about chocolate or soda or any of the things we might give up for Lent. It is an affair of the heart whereby we sense that all is not as it should be. We open up our hearts to the healing and restoring mercies of our Lord.